The present invention relates to a coin-emptying device for a column-shaped slot machine. A particularly advantageous application of the invention lies in the field of securing the storage of coins in and the emptying of coins from a slot machine for issuing pay-and-display tickets for parking.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/486,026, the content of which is hereby incorporated by reference, describes a coin-operated pay-and-display slot machine having the structure of a staged column. A particularly important element of that machine is its emptying device, commonly referred to as a xe2x80x9cmoney boxxe2x80x9d, which is the location where all the money contained in the machine is stored temporarily and which needs to be emptied regularly during emptying rounds performed by authorized agents. That highly sensitive area requires a high degree of protection to keep the money secure, both while the coins are being stored and while they are being discharged.
In general, there are two large categories of emptying device: moving money box devices, and transfer-cannister devices.
A moving money box is a box into which the coins drop. When the box is full, the authorized emptying agent extracts the box from the machine and replaces it with an empty box.
In contrast, a machine using a transfer cannister device receives coins in a defined zone, generally a funnel-shaped space known as a xe2x80x9chopperxe2x80x9d, which is open at the bottom so as to allow coins to be discharged when the machine is being emptied. When the hopper is full, the emptying agent attaches an empty collection receptacle, i.e. the xe2x80x9ctransfer cannisterxe2x80x9d, on or under the machine, and by opening a flap transfers the coins from the machine to the transfer cannister. Generally, the flap is situated at the bottom of the hopper so that transfer is performed under gravity. Nevertheless, this emptying function could equally well be devised on the same general principles using a force other than gravity, e.g. due to suction. Once transfer has been completed, the emptying agent closes the flap and removes the full cannister from the machine. It can then be emptied at a central depot.
Both types of emptying device are well suited to slot machines having a money box incorporated in a housing that projects outwardly from a stand, with the moving money box being changed or the transfer of coins to the cannister taking place via the bottom of the housing.
However, when the machine is column-shaped, and when the money is to be transferred by gravity, it is difficult or even impossible to place the transfer cannister under the hopper.
An object of the present invention is to provide a coin-emptying device for a column-shaped slot machine which enables coins to be emptied by being discharged from the machine, optionally by means of a transfer cannister.
This and other objects are accomplished in accordance with one aspect of the present invention directed to a coin emptying device that comprises a hopper for storing the coins having an outlet opening. A coin-discharge means is movable between a xe2x80x9cclosedxe2x80x9d first position in which the discharge means closes the outlet opening of the hopper, and an xe2x80x9copenxe2x80x9d second position in which the outlet opening of the hopper is cleared so as to enable coins to be transferred from the machine to the outside.
Thus, in the closed position, the two component elements of the device of the invention, namely the hopper and the moving discharge means are, as it were, retracted into the column structure of the machine, whereas in the open position they are deployed with the coin-emptying outlet being offset to the outside of the actual structure of the machine.
As explained in detail below, an advantage of the device of the invention is that the outlet opening of the hopper can be placed in the center of the machine thus making fraudulent access thereto almost impossible.
In a particular embodiment of the invention, the discharge means includes a drawer placed beneath the hopper and having a sloping duct with an inlet orifice and an outlet orifice, such that in the open position of the drawer the inlet orifice is in communication with the outlet opening of the hopper, with the discharge orifice enabling coins to be transferred from the machine to the outside.
Coins can be collected outside the machine by any means. Nevertheless, the invention provides for the device of the invention also to include a xe2x80x9ctransfer-cannisterxe2x80x9d receptacle into which the coins are emptied, the transfer cannister having a moving opening flap designed to put itself into communication with the discharge means when in the open position.
More precisely, when the discharge means comprises a moving drawer, the invention provides that when the drawer is in the closed position, the opening flap of the transfer cannister is fixed to the drawer, and the flap is used to bring the moving drawer into its open position while simultaneously putting the transfer cannister into communication with the discharge orifice of the sloping duct.
In accordance with another feature of the invention, the hopper includes a coin unclogging system. It has been found that when the outlet of the hopper is clear, no coins drop out, regardless of the shape and dimensions of the opening, with this being because the coins form domes inside the hopper, which domes must continuously be broken since as soon as one dome has been broken, another reforms immediately afterwards.
Another advantageous characteristic of the device of the invention is that it is placed inside double-walled armoring, the coins being stored in an internal structure to withstand vandalism, itself being enclosed in an external structure, e.g. made of steel, that provides protection. The gap between the two walls makes it possible, where necessary, to receive additional plates of armoring.
The device of the invention can also have a locking system for locking the moving means for discharging coins, which system is placed in the center of the double-walled armoring, thus making access to the locking system very difficult from the outside.